Hi Gang,I have recently acquired an interest in collecting books of photography.Not the how to books, they’re a dime a dozen. But rather books of photographs.I recently bought, “Jay Maisel’s New York”, as a start.I’m wondering what some of your favorite books of photography are.Regards to allLarry

I have a couple from Elliot Poter, 3 from Galen Rowell, "Mountain Light", "The Art of the Adventure", and "The Yosemite", a number of Ansel Adams books including "Yosemite and the Range of Light", and "American Wilderness". I also have "Sports!" by Neil Leifer and "Football" by Walter looss jr.

Hi Gang,I have recently acquired an interest in collecting books of photography.Not the how to books, they’re a dime a dozen. But rather books of photographs.I recently bought, “Jay Maisel’s New York”, as a start.I’m wondering what some of your favorite books of photography are.Regards to allLarry

Larry, The folks in the previous posts have made some good suggestions. Here's a different approach: collect photographers rather than books of random photographs. Here are some places to start:

I love street photography, so that list may be biased in one direction. But if you're learning about photography you need to become familiar with these people's work. Atget and Cartier-Bresson are sort of the Shakespeare and Hemingway of photography. Walker Evans and Elliott Erwitt are my personal favorites. But they're all wonderful photographers.

Larry: I don't know if you have a particular theme in mind... I'm a big fan of Jim Brandenburg's books. Also 'Shadowlight' by Freeman Patterson, and 'Brilliant Waters' by Elizabeth Carmel. Andy Goldsworthy is a rather unique sculptor, and he makes photographs of his creations. He has several interesting books out too.

Mike.

P.S. Don't forget Michael's books! The second one at least is sold out, but you might be able to find it on the aftermarket.

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If your mind is attuned to beauty, you find beauty in everything.~ Jean Cooke ~

Larry: I don't know if you have a particular theme in mind... I'm a big fan of Jim Brandenburg's books. Also 'Shadowlight' by Freeman Patterson, and 'Brilliant Waters' by Elizabeth Carmel. Andy Goldsworthy is a rather unique sculptor, and he makes photographs of his creations. He has several interesting books out too.

Mike.

P.S. Don't forget Michael's books! The second one at least is sold out, but you might be able to find it on the aftermarket.

There are also two Lenswork folios of MR's stuff over at lenswork.com.

For classic titles, Parr and Badger's "The photobook: a history" is a great place to start. Only problem is that most of the titles are out of print and quite expensive (partly as a consequence of being listed there, I've been told). At least that's not a problem with the 2008 books (although some have already gone out of print). Photoeye has an interesting feature about them at: http://photoeye.com/magazine/Bestof2008/2/

"Hokkaido" by Michael Kenna...Getting harder to find, but well worth the price and effort. This is my favorite book."Japan" also by Michael Kenna...Another beautiful book"Nine" by Josef Hoflehner"On This Earth" by Nick Brandt"Recollections" by John Sexton"Ansel Adams at 100""Photopoetry" by Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Other than Hokkaido, I believe these are all currently available new at the original retail price. Hope this helps. Watch out though. This can turn into an addiction.

Don’t go for the reprints (it’s ‘watered stock’, imho).Look out for the originals (1969, 1970) … you’ll find them at antique book stores or via the net. Licensed in 5 languages ... English included :-)

The originals are focused on the photographs (just attended by a few words of explanation). Easy to read and easy to understand.

Harald Mante is one of the most distinguished teachers of the photographic arts and an internationally recognized master of photography.

I have found the international portal Abebooks.com an excellent source for finding books at reasonable prices. (Even though I am thoroughly pissed at MasterCard for recently deciding to impose a 1% "foreign transaction" fee because abebooks is a Canadian company, even though transactions with US book dealers is in US $ and shipping is within the US. Pirates!)

Hi Gang,I have recently acquired an interest in collecting books of photography.Not the how to books, they’re a dime a dozen. But rather books of photographs.I recently bought, “Jay Maisel’s New York”, as a start.I’m wondering what some of your favorite books of photography are.Regards to allLarry

I really like David Ward's two books on landscape photography- Landscape Within (2004), and Landscape Beyond (2008). Both are an appealing combination of gorgeous large format photographs and surprisingly thoughtful musings on the nature of perception and art. They delve less into the "how" than the "why" of landscape photography; why certain images are so appealing, how they touch our souls when others perhaps more technically optimal do not. Ward has a terrific 'voice' on the page, sort of like that cool professor in college you'd hang out with at a bar after class: effortlessly articulate and erudite without being pompous. I find myself turning to his books for inspiration when my enthusiasm for taking new pictures wanes. Works every time.

The Unguarded Moment by Steve McCurry, released not that long ago is a collection of the photographer's most beautiful images from the last 30 years. It blew me away when I first saw it and continues to do so now. The pages are huge and beautifully produced and McCurry's shots are just inspiring. He is an intelligent observer as well as a master of colour and composition. Absolutley love the book, well worth checking out. A few more ideas here: http://www.photography-art-cafe.com/coffee...hoto-books.html

I'm with Josh on this one. I think McCurry is going to become the Cartier-Bresson of the early 21st century -- not in the sense that his photographs are like HCB's, but in the sense that he'll dominate the field the same way Henri did early last century. His work is phenomenal. Steve McCurry has established a transition from B&W to color in photographing people that's like no one else's. I think it's going to be definitive -- the standard for at least the next couple decades.

I'm with Josh on this one. I think McCurry is going to become the Cartier-Bresson of the early 21st century -- not in the sense that his photographs are like HCB's, but in the sense that he'll dominate the field the same way Henri did early last century. His work is phenomenal. Steve McCurry has established a transition from B&W to color in photographing people that's like no one else's. I think it's going to be definitive -- the standard for at least the next couple decades.

Quite exciting to hear from another McCurry nut! I'm not that used to talking on forums but for some time I've been developing a passion for Steve McCurry's images, and he's certainly pre-eminent in my world! I totally agree that he has brought colour 'people'/documentary photography to life in a way that was impossible for HCB and his contemporaries, without giving up and turning back to paint. I know that HCB felt he was resorting to aestheticism when tinkering with a bit of colour photography during his career, letting slip that razor eye for composition and emotion. McCurry does have a fabulous sense of the decisive/unguarded moment, but with today's cameras, can also exercise almost the freedom of a painter in capturing mood and energy with different colours.

I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted with you guys on this forum, but you know, just got to get it off the chest! 'The Unguarded Moment' is a really special book, check it out.